Taking action on gun and knife crime

Tuesday 6 November 2018

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Councillors at Sheffield City Council will hear about the city’s plans to tackle gun and knife crime at its next full Council meeting.

John Mothersole, Chief Executive at the council and Detective Superintendent Una Jennings at South Yorkshire Police will present the plans this, Wednesday 7th November, and members will have the opportunity to ask questions.

The presentation will discuss ‘Fortify Hope not harm’ Sheffield’s multi-agency approach to tackling organised crime. Its message is that of all threats in the UK, serious and organised crime affects more people more often than any other type of crime.

It will highlight too the facts and figures for all violent crime in the city:

Nationally, the rate of possession of weapons offences has been increasing since 2013 and Sheffield’s rate in the twelve months to 30 June 2018 is similar to the Core Cities average and above that of England and Wales.

The rate for ‘hospital admissions assault with a sharp object’ in Sheffield has fluctuated over the past five years, but was lower in 2017/18 than the previous year (data for 2018 is currently only available up to 31 March 2018)

Sheffield’s ‘violence with injury’ rate remains the lowest of the English Core Cities.

Overall the figures show that Sheffield is still one of the safest cities to live in across the UK. That said, it still means that there is a lot of work to do to ensure safety in all areas of our city.

Working together, the Statutory Community Safety Partnership, led by the police and the council, will be implementing plans, along with other agencies, to reduce and prevent gun and knife crime. This work is informed by research and the successful approaches used in other cities and will bring together the expertise, knowledge and consistency of action needed for work of this nature.

Councillor Jim Steinke, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Community Safety and Joint Chair of the Community Safety Partnership, together with the District Commander for Sheffield said:

We’re aware of the issues, we take them very seriously and we will keep working hard to make sure that we keep on track to reduce these types of crimes.“Partners from various agencies including the council, police, youth services and social care will continue to work together to share information and plan joint actions to address the causes of organised crime. Positive activities and support for young people are to be provided to help them avoid becoming involved in issues relating to organised crime. We recognise the important role that youth and community groups are playing to educate, inform and shape the lives of our young people.

Councillor Jayne Dunn, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills said:

The role that education plays in our schools is vitally important here. Our aim is to make sure that through activities in school all year 7’s and above have an awareness of knife crime and what can happen if they make the wrong decisions. We will be focusing on warning them of the dangers to avoid them being exposed to situations which could cause harm.